True Stories: Living with Migraines

Written by Kimberly HollandMedically Reviewed on July 1, 2013 by George Krucik, MD, MBA

Real-life patients share their stories of living with and treating migraines.

The Family Headache

From a young age, Jimmy remembers his
father, Tommy, having “sick headaches”—Tommy’s migraines would make him nauseated,
cause him to throw up, and leave him sick in bed for several days. When he was
about 45, Jimmy began having these headaches, too. “It’s one of the worst
feelings in the world. A building pressure will grow worse and worse until it
almost feels as if your head is going to explode.”

Much like his father, Jimmy, now 58,
experiences dizziness, sensitivity to light, and nausea when he has a migraine.
He must stay in a dark room to help relieve his photophobia. He may take
over-the-counter pain relievers to ease the pain, but he doesn’t find real
relief until he’s able to throw up. “It’s really the only thing that works for
me, but the headache will still linger for a few hours more even then.”

Jimmy’s son, William, a junior in
college, experienced his first migraine when he was 13. “I had never really had
a headache before that point, so I wasn’t entirely sure what I was experiencing,”
William says. He explained the symptoms (blurry vision, sensitivity to light,
and pain behind the eyes) to his parents, who immediately recognized the
similarities between William’s symptoms and his father’s. They took him to
their family doctor, who prescribed naproxen. Later, as William’s symptoms
became worse, his doctor prescribed Maxalt, which he takes when he feels a
migraine beginning. Now, at age 21, he averages one episode a year.

“I started having migraines at a much
earlier age than my dad, but I know what to be aware of for my own children,”
William says. “It’s in my genes, and it will be in theirs. I will want them to
get treatment as quickly as my parents got treatment for me if they ever start
having problems.”

The Importance of Knowing Your Triggers

“I hate drinking because I know it gives
me headaches,” says Katelyn, a 22-year-old public relations account manager.
“When I wake up hung over or with a wine headache, I feel awful because I just
gave myself [a migraine], and it could have been avoided.”

Katelyn, whose grandmother and aunts
also have frequent migraine headaches, discovered that alcohol was a trigger
for her migraine headaches by diligently keeping a log of her symptoms, what
she ate, what she was drinking, what medicines she took, etc. “My goal was to
avoid preventative medication,” she says. “I didn’t want to be taking
medication every day.”

Using her migraine logs, Katelyn and her
doctors came to the conclusion her headaches might be the result of her birth
control pills. “It's taken me nearly four years to realize that estrogen may be
a big trigger for my migraines. I am now on a birth control that does not have
estrogen. The hormone [in the pill] is progesterone, and that seems to have
balanced out my hormones and my headaches,” she says. “I still get headaches,
but now I can treat them with over-the-counter Excedrin.”

Finding the triggers that cause your
headaches and learning to avoid them helps you live a more balanced, pain-free
life, Katelyn says. “I make sure to eat at the same times every day. I still
find myself getting migraines if I don’t eat breakfast, or if I don’t eat a
balanced meal with enough protein. It’s so important to take care of your
body,” she says.

The Importance of Seeking Help

Michelle, an elementary school teacher,
has a vivid recollection of her first migraine. “I was 8 years old. I carpooled
home from school with neighborhood friends to an empty house. My mother was
running late from work, and I had to sit on the front steps with what felt like
a headache that was going to cause my eye to explode from the inside out,” she
recalls. “As soon as my mother got home, I rushed inside and threw up. The rest
of the day is a blur.”

By 21, Michelle’s headaches were
consistent and “frustrating.” By 23, they were chronic and debilitating. Now
29, she has not been headache-free in more than seven months. The headaches do
not consume an entire day—they typically last only a few hours.

Michelle’s efforts to treat her
migraines have been mostly unsuccessful thus far. By her own account, the first
attempts were ineffective because the doctor (a family practitioner) didn’t
seem to know how to treat her headaches. “He told me to take Aleve. After more
migraine attacks, I returned to be given another medication, Maxalt, which did
nothing for me,” she says. “After returning a third time, I was given a
prescription dosage of naproxen, which is basically two doses of Aleve. It did
nothing.”

She saw a neurologist for the first time
when she was 24 and found the first real relief for her migraines since they
began. “He was wonderful and gave me medications that made me feel so much
better. He listened to me, he understood my pain, and he made me feel better,”
she says. This relief, however, was short-lived, as Michelle quickly worked her
way through the medicines that were effective until she had reached the highest
doses she could take. Not willing to suffer endlessly, she sought out another
neurologist who is working with newer migraine treatment technologies,
including Botox injections. Though most of these have also had limited results,
Michelle and her doctor have not given up hope.

“The most important thing is to find a
doctor who believes and understands you,” she says. “And find someone who
supports you. Many people will not understand, but some will try to at least
support you.”

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